Donate After You Declutter
If you are ready to just be done with the items, donating them is the easiest way to get them out of the house before you have second thoughts. There are many ways you can donate or give away your decluttered items:
Give to an organization that regularly accepts donations: Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, etc. There are many options. If you have large items you can even schedule a pickup from some of these choices. It may be weeks before they can come for the items though. Your local church, nursing home or hospital would probably gladly take magazines or books. Give them to a friends, family or neighbors who can use the items. List them on Freecycle. Freecycle is a great mailing list where you can list items you no longer want that someone else may want. Generally the person will come pick the item up at your home or you can arrange to meet somewhere to exchange the item.
Get Rid Of Things By Selling Them
Sometimes we aren’t ready to just give away an item and would like to recoup some of our investment in the purchase. In this case there are many avenues where you can try to sell the item.
eBay – for a large value item eBay may be the best way to sell it. There will be more fees and if it is a heavy item the cost of shipping may be prohibitive to the buyer. Craigslist is a great place to sell items online to local folks. Because you are selling to people nearby this method is much more attractive for heavy items. It is easy to arrange for the buyer to pickup the item at your home or meet for an exchange. Use a local mailing list. Your neighborhood, church, school or other group may have a mailing list where people list items for sale. These lists can be the simplest way to list smaller items with a simple email that others may be able to use. Check facebook or yahoo groups for local groups and ask your neighbors. Hold a garage sale, or rummage sale, whichever name you prefer. Avoid the chore of having to do all the advertising yourself by joining a community garage sale. If one isn’t scheduled see if your neighbors would be interested in having a neighborhood sale. A sale with several homes participating draws in a lot more people and the cost and chore of advertising can be shared amongst the group.
(Photo credit: Woman with Feather Duster via Shutterstock)
